How to Purchase Land in Costa Rica
The process of buying land in Costa Rica is different than buying land in the United States. If you're not careful, you could end up thinking you are buying one thing and ending up with a completely different property.
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Instructions
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Get a local real estate attorney. You will need an attorney that is familiar with land purchase by foreigners in Costa Rica to help you with the process and fill out most of the paperwork. If you know someone that has bought land in Costa Rica, ask for a referral. If not, local real estate agents can refer you to an attorney.
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Sign an option to purchase. Once you find land that you are interested in buying, make an offer and sign an option to purchase with the current owner. Your lawyer can draw up this document. Put your down-payment money into escrow when you sign the option to purchase.
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Ask your lawyer to perform a title search. The title search will give you all of the info on the land, including ownership and boundaries. If you can't find the land in the title search, you will need to look in the public registry. Be sure to look for concession status. If land is considered beachfront property then it will have a concession status. This means that when you "buy" the land you are actually just buying a lease to use the land for a specific period.
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Carefully examine the rights being offered. Determine if you are being offered ownership rights (called derecho de propiedad), or occupation rights (called derechos de ocupación). Occupation rights mean that the land had not been registered--which could prove to be a problem. You want to get ownership rights, which is the equivalent of buying land in the United States.
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Complete the sale. If everything is satisfactory, complete the transfer deed and make the final payment--or set up a mortgage. Your attorney will prepare the transfer deed and help you get the payment to the owner--or properly set up your mortgage. You can use a Costa Rican bank or a bank from the United States.
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